FASTER TRUCKS AS A DRIVER RECRUITMENT TACTIC?

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@JamesMenzies

An interesting press release crossed my Inbox last week from Transport America, which was announcing a compensation package increase for owner/operators. That’s not so interesting, I’ve seen a ton of such announcements out of the US of late.

What was interesting was that this company also announced it was increasing its corporate speed limit, bucking a trend that has seen fleets continuously decrease their truck speeds in an effort to save fuel and improve safety.

Is it possible a couple miles per hour extra will be enough to entice owner/operators to join one company over another? And how fast is too fast? Will we see carriers offering trucks capable of 70 mph to attract drivers? 75? There are roads in Texas where the speed limit is 80 – will there be 80 mph trucks on offer? Will this tactic attract the right drivers?

Transport America increased speed a modest 2 mph, bringing its cruise speed to just 64 mph. It’s allowing team trucks to travel 68 mph. It’ll be interesting to see if this marks the beginning of a trend that will see truck speeds increase after years of slowing down.

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@JamesMenzies

James Menzies is editorial director of Today's Trucking and TruckNews.com. He has been covering the Canadian trucking industry for more than 24 years and holds a CDL. Reach him at james@newcom.ca or follow him on Twitter at @JamesMenzies.


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  • 0.1 MPG decrease in Fuel Economy for every 1 MPH over 55 MPH!
    Even with the current cheaper fuel prices I can’t see the big fleets making any across the board decision to raise set speeds. It’s just too much money off the bottom line. On a smaller scale though it does make a nice incentive to the driver and it could be incorporated using the Driver Rewards parameters offered on most newer trucks.

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